Escape
Escape is the forty-third and final episode of Mobile Suit Gundam. It first aired in Japan on January 26, 1980 and North America on December 31, 2001. Synopsis The Gundam and Zeong do battle with one another. The Zeong fires at the Gundam with its Psycommu guided laser hands. The battle continues to rage on at A Baoa Qu. Bright asks Fraw for updates on the Guntank and Guncannon which are approaching the entrance to A Baoa Qu. A number of GMs and Balls move ahead of them but are swiftly destroyed. The Gundam gets a direct hit on the Zeong, destroying one of its arms. Amuro asks Char why he got Lalah involved, saying she wasn't meant to be a warrior. The Gundam's left arm is destroyed, but Amuro manages to blast off the Zeong's other arm. The Zeong flees and Gundam pursues it. Char puts on his normal suit and wonders how he can beat Amuro, asking Lalah to show him how. White Base takes a direct hit to one of its engines and needs to release it entirely. White Base is forced to land at A Baoa Qu. Bright tells the crew to grab sidearms. Mobile suits inside A Baoa Qu fire upon White Base, causing further damage. The Guncannon and Guntank reach White Base. Kai and Hayato wonder whether everyone is alright. Char waits on A Baoa Qu for Amuro to arrive. The Gundam gets a direct hit on the Zeong's torso. Char ejects the head which manages to blow off the head of the Gundam. Kycilia is told that the Zeong has been shot down and says that Char can no longer be called the red comet. Zeon is taking heavily losses and Kycilia wonders if this was inevitable with the Gundam pilot being a newtype. She tells Twanning to surrender the base 15 minutes after she leaves to the Zeon homeland. She tells him to get her ship ready. Guncannon and Guntank work on defending White Base, which is surrounded by numerous enemy mobile suits and soldiers. Bright and the others try to fight them off. Amuro leads the Gundam into A Baoa Qu. He wonders why Char is getting in the way of the Federation defeating the Zabi family. Sensing something is amiss, Amuro sets the Gundam to autopilot and gets out. The Gundam fires at the Zeong, destroying it, but the Zeong fires back, destroying the Gundam's remaining arm and right leg. Amuro is hit by the blast of the Zeong as it explodes and is knocked upward. Amuro senses that his true enemy, the Zabi family is in the vicinity. Char, who is behind Amuro tells him that he may have received his powers from Lalah. Amuro blames Lalah for getting her involved in the war, but Char says she awakened to her newtype potentials due to the war. Char says newtypes like Amuro are too dangerous to be around and he'll have to get rid of him. The two fight at each other in mid-air and Char flees. Amuro chases after him. The Guntank takes heavy damage, forcing Hayato to retreat. The Guncannon loses a leg shortly afterwards. Kai grabs a gun and readies to leave. Sayla leaves the G-Fighter and approaches the White Base, but senses her brother in another direction. Sayla heads through the halls of A Baoa Qu. Meanwhile Kycilia heads to a Zanzibar and wants to leave swiftly before peole realize she's escaping. Sayla continues to press further on and finds Char and Amuro fighting with rapiers. Amuro tells Char his true enemy is the Zabi family, but Char won't listen and continues to fight with him. Sayla calls for the two to stop fighting. Char and Amuro are able to hit each other with their blades; Char is hit in the forehead while Amuro the shoulder. Sayla senses Lalah's spirit. An explosion goes off behind her and she is thrust into Amuro and Char. Sayla tells Char to stop, that his true enemy is the Zabi family and that he doesn't have any reason to hate Amuro. Char tells Sayla and Amuro that taking revenge isn't his priority anymore; they are entering an age of newtypes and if Amuro wants to understand him to fight alongside him. Another explosion rocks the room separating the three. Char rescues Sayla from being flung into the explosion. The explosions force Amuro into another hall where he painfully pulls the remains of Char's rapier from his shoulder and patches it up. Char and Sayla come across a dying Zeon soldier who tells Char where Kycilia is heading. Char tells Sayla to get out while she can and that he's realized he can't let the Zabi family off. Char tells Sayla to take care of herself and that Amuro is calling for her now. Char heads towards Kycilia's Zanzibar. He flies in front of the bridge and salutes Kycilia, telling Garma that he's sending his sister to join him. Char fires the bazooka he's carrying, decapitating Kycilia and destroying the bridge of the Zanzibar. Its bridge destroyed, the Zanzibar is swiftly destroyed once taking off from A Baoa Qu. Sayla, now alone, feels as though she couldn't return. Amuro makes his way back down to where the Gundam is. He ejects the top half of the Gundam and wonders what happened to Sayla and the White Base crew. Amuro gets into the Core Fighter cockpit and hears Lalah's voice. Amuro concentrates and can see the White Base crew fighting off the Zeon at White Base. Amuro shouts for Sayla to get up. Sayla can hear his voice and asks how she can leave. Amuro directs her where to go. Amuro tells Bright that they must abandon the White Base. Mirai and Fraw also hear Amuro's voice telling them to head to the escape craft. Kai and Hayato hear Amuro's voice telling them to retreat. Sayla makes her way to White Base and is knocked forward by an explosion but makes it to the escape shuttle where everyone is. The crew watches as White Base explodes. Bright salutes White Base and says that if it were not for Amuro calling out to them, they'd all be finished. Sayla asks where Amuro is. Bright says she would be more able to call out to Amuro since he believes her to be a newtype. Everyone hopes Amuro is alright since they have stopped hearing from him. Explosions continue to go off at A Baoa Qu. The children start pointing the way as if they were talking to someone. Suddenly, the Core Fighter appears flying away from A Baoa Qu. The White Base crew happily shouts out to Amuro and use a signal light to alert him to their location. Amuro flies the Core Fighter towards the escape craft. Amuro tells Lalah he still has a place to go home to and couldn't be happier. He pushes himself out of the Core Fighter and towards the escape capsule where everyone is standing, waiting to embrace him. As the calendar turns to Universal Century 0080, the Earth Federation and Republic of Zeon sign a treaty, leading to peace... for now. Important Events *'Deceased:' Kycilia Zabi *'End of the One Year War. Trivia * This episode would air in North America on Cartoon Network during the final "New Year's Eve-il" event, a marathon showing off the villain they thought was the most evil. The representative for this episode, Char Anzable, would place second, outbeating his one of his many copycats, Zechs Merquise. Ironically, Char, along with the third place winner and the outright winner, ''Tenchi Muyo!'s Kagato and Batman: The Animated Series' Joker, respectively, would outbeat the Toonami's later darlings from Dragonball Z, despite all three series being removed from the programming. Staff *'Script:' Hiroyuki Hoshiyama *'Unit Director:' Osamu Sekita *'Animation Director:' Kazuo Yamazaki